Zalihić on Mayor Rotation: If HDZ Doesn't Agree, We Have No Obligation Toward Them

MOSTAR, (Patria) - Arman Zalihić, councilor and president of the Mostar SDP organization, said he hopes for the election of a mayor at the continuation of the session.

He explained details of the proposal "on rotating the mayor" which the HDZ BiH rejected today.

"It is a proposal that in the next four years each of the three blocs (HDZ BiH, Coalition for Mostar and BH Bloc – editor's note) would have 16 months of mayor and that we form a broad coalition and, instead of these stories about traitors and winners, reduce the story to communal issues and solving citizens' burning problems. Irma Baralija estimated that such a thing requires consultations of several days, and in the end we agreed at the Collegium," he said.

Zalihić emphasized that this proposal does not imply changes to the Statute because it is a political agreement. 

"It is a political agreement in which mayors would resign. HDZ is against it, and I would let us put everything on paper in the next few days. If HDZ is against it, we have no obligations toward HDZ," he stressed in an interview with N1.

Asked when Mostar will get a mayor, Zalihić said:

"I hope at the next session that the second, third round will finally come. We were never the problem. I asked for five days to prepare a speech because no candidate presented their proposals. It was also important that the candidate be younger. Although it is all sad in essence," he said. 

The third continuation of the constitutive session is scheduled for Monday, February 15, at 4:00 PM. 

If HDZ BiH sticks to its decision to reject the offered agreement, and the remaining parties sign it, the Coalition for Mostar, BH Bloc and PMP would mean 18 votes for Zlatko Guzin. According to the agreement, Guzin would resign after 16 months, after which the BH Bloc candidate would be appointed. The final agreement must be reached over the weekend so that the agreement can be implemented on Monday at the continuation of the City Council session.